Stories past
by Isabelnecessaryonabicycle
Summary: Lily, James, Albus and the other new generation sit down and read the harry potter books. read the first chapter and you'll see how funny the rest will be...
1. Double Trouble

******Disclaimer: i don't own Harry Potter :(******

**Chapter One - Double Trouble**

James Potter was minding his own business strutting down one of the corridors in Hogwarts School on a Friday; trouble was what he was looking for. But trouble it seemed always tended to find him, not the other way around; apparently this was a family trait.

"aaahhhhhhh!"

Spinning around James saw a familiar figure step out of a girl's bathroom in front of him. Albus. It seemed that he had trapped Mrs. Norris in the girl's bathroom again, but not just any bathroom, Moaning Myrtle's. Dripping wet from Myrtle outrage Albus ran towards him.

"Get back here Potter! I'll chain you up for this! Mark my words!"

Filch's angry cries bounced off the stone walls, James grinned. While he went looking for trouble his brother always walked into it. Grinning down at his brother the two broke into a run.

"Have you got the map?"

"no, didn't know you'd cause trouble before even breakfast, Al. I was hoping to run off my carbs now I'll just have to run, huh.

"So the room then?"

"That's are best bet"

The two ran to the nearest staircase.

"ha ha!"

Now normally this would not freak them out, but because it was Filch standing in font of them looking the happiest he could ever be. They were scared. _For a squib_, James thought, _he sure knew how to pop up when people least suspected._

"this is it for you two!" he dragged the two boys by the backs of their robes. They exchanged a look, both thinking _surely were smarter than getting caught like this?_

"Punishment! Pure Punishment. These two are the worse trouble makers of their generation. First it was those 'marauders', then those Weasley twins, will I ever get a moments rest!"

The two boys looked at each other, these 'Weasley twins' were obviously Uncle George and the late Uncle Fred (who had their own momentum inside the school, though it just looked like swamp). But these 'marauders', they had their map, but when ever they asked their father who they were he always replied "you'll find out soon enough".

The same could be said when they asked him why people called him "the chosen one" or "the boy who lived" or more recently "our saviour". Their father had told them the minimum of what had happed in his youth, but they didn't get his hesitation of telling them the whole story.

"And what do you have here Filch?"

McGonagall's voice came out of nowhere, as she came out from behind a suit of armour. James knew that she secretly patrolled the school corridors in her Animagus form, a cat.

"Headmistress" Filch gave her a quick tip of the head while holding tightly the tops of the boy's robes. "I have found these troublemakers terrorizing my cat, again, and causing Myrtle to flood her bathroom again."

Again? James knew she regularly through temper tantrums, but flooding her bathroom meant something pretty bad. After all Albus had found out she was scared of cats, which was definitely the cause of this one, he probably now thinking about threw Mrs. Norris at Myrtle in order to make her flood her bathroom.

"Well hand them over Filch, and I will give them their punishment. While you go mop up that bath room."

The boys watched Filch's face deflate from excitement for being able to punish them personally to moping up a girl's bathroom. His claw like finger released them and he marched off in the opposite direction.

"Now boys." They both looked up at the scowling Headmistress.

"Please Minnie, it wasn't me! I was minding my own business when-"

"Just like your grandfather," McGonagall shock her head. "Well come this way"

* * *

><p>They got off lightly, scrubbing trophies. But the boys also found something there that exited them. Awards to their father and uncle, dating back when they were in second year.<p>

"What do you think they did, Al?"

"Dunno, why don't we just ask them?"

"Ask who, what?"

Their cousin Rose and sister Lily stepped out from behind a tapestry.

"Nothing much" James answer seemed to increase the girls curiosity.

"Al, what did you find?" Lily looked towards her more sensible brother knowing she wouldn't get an answer from the other.

"Just Awards, to Dad, and Uncle Ron"

"Really?"

"What for?"

The two girls seemed completely exited about the thought of finding something out about their parent's history.

"That's just it we don't know, were hoping Dad will tell us."

"So you really want to know?"

They all looked at Rose questioningly. She pulled out a thin paper bond book from her bag.

"Mother gave this to me at the start of the year, she said she'll post the others once were done with this one."

"What are you talking about Rose?"

"Well you know how we've been bugging our parents for years for the whole story? Well Mum decided to make a book out of their years at Hogwarts; it's just apparently this is only the first one."

"What so it all stated at their first year at Hogwarts? But how could your mum know every detail about what happened?"

"Well, apparently our parents combined all their memories into this book so that it would be the most perfect biography about what really happened to them. Mums began working on the last one as we speak; apparently they take an awfully long time to make. She's given me the first so we can read them all before she launches them all public, she also thinking of letting muggles read about them, but she has to get the order from the ministry before that happens."

They all looked at her in astonishment.

"Sooooo… can we read it?"

"We have to gather everyone first"

They all knew what this meant, all their cousins, everyone who was counted as family, including Teddy.

"Where are we meeting them?"

"The room, Albforth will let them though."

"When are they coming?"

"Tomorrow. I think we should ask Scorp to come too."

Silence met this.

"Of course!" Albus was the only one apart from Rose who smiled at this.

"Well let's meet there after breakfast tomorrow then?"

* * *

><p><strong>note: soooo another new story. i know reading the harry potter books has been done a million times before, i just really wanted a go at doing it. hopefully this will give everyone insight to how i think the future children of our famous heroes would be like. Enjoy!<strong>


	2. A Beginning

**Chapter 2 – A Beginning**

"Come on! Let's just go in there there's no point waiting for those two."

Just as Lily was about to speak to speak back the people who they had been waiting for rushed around the corner. They had obviously found a spare broom closet to make out in judging by the mess of their clothes and the bird nest style of their hair.

"Sorry everyone"

"That's ok Rose, Hormones are high, and the night is young, and Scorpious wanted some action."

Rose slapped James on the arm as she couldn't reach his head, patting down her risen skirt she walked in front of the wall three times muttering a silent chant inside her head.

A door began to appear, from the size of a grape it began to grow, until finally it stopped, from the size of it the room and the door did not seem to care much for James Potter for he had to bend down to enter the new room behind it.

The others followed after him looking around the room with wide eyes. No matter how many times they came into this room it was always a surprise with what they found in there. The room was decorated with all house flags on one side and Ariana Dumbledore's portrait on the other, there were no windows in the room but there was two doors coming off, which Lily suspected were toilets they could use in case they needed too.

On the floor were a massive amount of bean bags, though Lily knew she had a huge family just looking at them reminded her these were just for her generation.

Lily went to sit next to her brothers, for she knew that she would need them in these coming books. She saw Rose and Scorpious and her brother Hugo sit next to them. Roxanne and her brother Fred shared a bean bag on the left of them obviously exited to hear about their dead uncle. Dominique drifted to the corner of the group with her brother knowing their mother would come in much later. Loran and Lysander looked positively exited looking around the room with eager eyes. Alice went and sat next to lily, they had grown close to each other ever since Alice's father, Professor Longbottom pared them together in Herbology.

Ariana picture moved towards them like an open door and out stepped Molly and Lucy giggling like only twin sisters can, and behind them with their arms around each other Teddy and Victorie.

"well who's going to start?" Teddy grinned down at them all and jumped onto one of the bean bags making it nearly swallow him whole. Victorie giggled and pulled him up, before sitting on his lap. Her siblings crossed over the circle of bags and sat down next to them, while Molly and Lucy bowed to the group.

"we are here!"

"the sisters are here!"

"and now-"

"we begin!"

They laughed and sat on the other side of Teddy and Victorie. The group laughed at their theatrics and rose took out the book from her bag and stood up.

"Who wants to read first? I suggest we read a chapter each. Well?"

The group nodded in agreement, Lily couldn't help but laugh silently. Rose had them all quiet and listening. Lily's curiosity and need for answers made her rise her hand.

"I will"

The group stared at her and her brothers smiled. Lily rarely talked to anyone but her family, she hated drawing attention towards her self and wanted people to make their own impression of her not what they thought the daughter of a hero ought to be like.

Taking the book from Rose, she saw the cover for the first time, it showed a boy who looked exactly like her brother, though more like Albus, standing in front of the Hogwarts Express. Looking at it she realised it was her Dad on his way to his first year at Hogwarts. Opening the book she read the title of the book.

**Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

"Philospher's stone? Whats that?" James interrupted.

"well were probably find out James if you didn't interrupt all the time." Teddy smiled at her and nodded for her to carry on.

**The Boy Who Lived **

"that's what some people call dad!" Albus smiled. And Lily went on like he hadn't said anything.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. **

"They sound nice." Everyone rolled their eyes at James's blatant sarcastic remark.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense. **

Everyone snorted. Obviously these were muggles.

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache.**

"Ugly then?" Roxanne asked.

**Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. **

"Like a giraffe" Fred smirked.

"the giraffe and the hippo" Hugo grinned.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere. **

"Bet he looks like a pig?" James announced.

"Sure, how about a gallon?" Loran replied.

"ok"

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. **

"They knew dad?" Albus asked. Everyone shrugged their shoulders obviously not knowing the answer.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister,**

"GRANDMA!" the three Potters shouted.

"Wait! So this is our Aunt?" Albus asked.

**because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish**

"I like the sound of that. I wonder what they were like." James pondered.

**as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"Daddy!" Lily shouted.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. **

"Wow this all sounds really boring. Can we skip to the end?" James lied back and looked up at the ceiling.

"No, this must be important. Otherwise why else would it be mentioned?" Rose explained.

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. **

"oooooh" Hugo added for effect.

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

"**Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive. **

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar — a cat reading a map. **

"McGonallgall!" they all explained.

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen — then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive — no, **_**looking **_**at the sign; cats couldn't read maps **_**or **_**signs. **

"This man is funny" Victoire said, with a hint of her French accent.

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. **

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. **

"Wizards!"

"Wonder why their being so careless?" Teddy asked frowning.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes — the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together.**

**Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt —these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it. **

"This is bad; something must have happened that a simple minded muggle like this one could have noticed." Teddy said. Lily frowned suddenly worried for her father.

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills. **

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. **_**He **_**didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

"oh no." Teddy started adding things in his head knowing something good and bad must have happened for the magical world to be so careless.

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. **

"that sounds like fun" James seemed equally effected by the emotions running though the room, anticipating for something to happen.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery. **

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. **

**This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying. **

"**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard —" **

" — **yes, their son, Harry —" **

"Oh no! what happened?" Lily whispered, not low enough for everyone to hear.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. **

"yes!"

"it's a figure of speech James." Rose rolled her eyes at him.

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. **

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone,**

"He sounds worried" James smirked but it didn't come across as light as he wanted.

**and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking… no, he was being stupid.**

"there's a surprise!" everyone rolled their eyes at James.

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew **_**was **_**called Harry. **

"Well clearly he's in touch with his family" Roxanne scowled; she didn't like people who weren't close to their family.

**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her — if **_**he'd **_**had a sister like that… **

"Hey!" everyone shouted at the book, clearly disliking anyone who insulted their family.

**but all the same, those people in cloaks… **

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door. **

"**Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! **

"oh no." Teddy said, everyone's colour left their faces. They knew that the first time Voldemort had been defeated Lily and James Potter had died protecting their son.

**Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!" **

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination. **

James snorted.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw—and it didn't improve his mood — was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. **

**It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes. **

"**Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. **

"I bet anyone it's really Minnie?" James said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'll take that bet." Scorpious spoke for the first time.

"One gallon?"

"Sure"

**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife. **

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: **

"_**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern."**_

"muggle don't know anything!" Dominique explained.

_**The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?" **_

"_**Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight." **_

"Well people are definitely celebrating." Fred said glumly.

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

"looks like someones putting it together." Hugo said.

"honestly the ministry ought to be doing something about this" Teddy shook his head.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er — Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

"Dun dun duh!" everyone laughed at Fred's theatrics.

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister. **

"Humph" Lily was annoyed at this fake people for criticizing her family.

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?" **

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…" **

"_**So?**_**" snapped Mrs. Dursley. **

"**Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… **_**her **_**crowd." **

Everyone glared at the book annoyed at these muggles.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son — he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?" **

"**I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly. **

"**What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?" **

"**Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"**Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." **

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something. **

"Oh no!" Albus shouted.

"What?" Rose asked.

"Dad's gonna have to live with these people." Everyone looked thoughtful at this and felt pity for Mr. Potter to have to put up with these people.

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he didn't think he could bear it. **

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters **_**were **_**involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on — he yawned and turned over — it couldn't affect **_**them**_**… **

**How very wrong he was. **

"Dun dun dah!"

"Fred!"

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

"Here." Scorpious handed a gallon over to James. "It's obviously her."

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. **

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore. **

"Dad's old Headmaster!" Albus excitedly explained.

"and your name sake, you look just like him Al." James smirked and dogged the punch sent his way.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known." **

"He sounds just like how Mum told us." Hugo said, Rose nodded.

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. **

"cool!" James shouted.

"Dad's got that." Hugo said jumping up and down in his seat.

"Really?"

"Yeah Dumbledore gave it to him."

**He clicked it again — the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it. **

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall." **

Everyone grinned at that.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. "How did you know it was me?" she asked. **

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly." **

They all laughed.

"**You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall. **

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here." **

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. **

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no — even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." **

**She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"I've heard of him, he was in the Order wasn't he?" Teddy asked quietly to himself.

"**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years." **

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors." **

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really **_**has **_**gone, Dumbledore?" **

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. **

A, "Hm" went round the group.

"**We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

"**A **_**what**_**?" **

James snickered at this.

"**A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of." **

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who **_**has **_**gone —" **

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: **_**Voldemort**_**."**

"Why didn't people say the name back then?" Roxanne asked.

"Because they were scared." Rose answered.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name." "I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, **_**Voldemort**_**, was frightened of." **

"**You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have." **

"**Only because you're too — well —**_**noble **_**to use them." **

"**It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs." **

They all laughed at this.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the **_**rumors **_**that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?" **

Lily sped up her reading wanting to find out the truth.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer. **

"**What they're **_**saying**_**," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. **

**The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are — are — that they're — **_**dead**_**." **

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. **

"They really cared" lily whispered just loud enough for her brothers to hear.

"**Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

The three Potter's wrapped their arms around each other at the mention of their Grandparents.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily. **

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. **

A gasp came over the group. None of them had heard this.

**But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke — and that's why he's gone." **

**Dumbledore nodded glumly. **

"**It's — it's **_**true**_**?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"**We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know." **

"I bet he knows" James said still in shock about what happened to his father.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?" **

"Hagrid" the group shouted.

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why **_**you're here, of all places?" **

"**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now." **

"Poor Uncle Harry." Hugo said sadly, he couldn't imagine a life without his family.

"**You don't mean – you **_**can't **_**mean the people who live **_**here**_**?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore — you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!" **

"Well she clearly likes them." Scorpious said trying to lighten the mood by being sarcastic like James would have done if he still wasn't comforting his siblings.

"**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter." **

"**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?**

"No" Teddy said.

**These people will never understand him! He'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future — there will be books written about Harry — every child in our world will know his name!" **

"Wow Dad really is more Famous than I imagined." Albus said quietly.

"**Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?" **

"it really would be better for him." Rose said.

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it. **

"**Hagrid's bringing him." **

"**You think it —**_**wise **_**— to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore. **

"Same!" Albus and James Shouted.

"**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — what was that?" **

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them. **

"Cool!" Fred said.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so **_**wild **_**— long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"Dad" James and Al smiled at each other and at Lily.

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?" **

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

"Uncle Sirius owned that motorbike!" James explained surprised, "Cool!"

"he would say that to one of his name sakes wouldn't he." Victorie said to Teddy and he grinned down at her.

"**No problems, were there?" **

"**No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

"aaaah" the group smiled at this.

"Do you guys realise this is awesome blackmail material?" the group laughed at James smirk.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

"**Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall. **

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever." **

"That's how Daddy got that scar then?" Lily said. The group looked at one another silently thinking over this.

"**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?" **

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.**

"He's strange" said Dominique.

**Well — give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with." **

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. **

"**Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog. **

"Hagrid really does like dad" Albus grinned at his siblings.

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!" **

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles —" **

Everyone flinched at this.

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

"So their ditching him?" James asked angrily.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out. **

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations." **

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir." **

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night. **

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply. **

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four. **

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone. **

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door**

Everyone laughed at this good naturally.

**to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley… He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"**

"Wow, and that's only the beginning." Roxanne explained

"Yeah and Dad's gonna have to live with these people" James replied.

"I feel sorry for Uncle Harry" said Hugo

"Don't we all" Teddy murmured.

"Who's next then?" Lily asked

"Me me!" Albus said jumping for the book. Lily looked around the room at everyone's faces questioningly.

"Any objections?"

Silence fell.

"Well then it appears to be your turn to read then Albus." Rose explained.

* * *

><p><em>note: first chapter of the book! tell me what you think, REVIEW!<em>


	3. The Magic Begins

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter….really? You ask. Yes…really. Otherwise there would have been some harassing from Dumbledore to Harry… *puts hands up in surrender* I like a laugh…**

**Author note: hey guys *dodges tomatos* sorry! been sooo long since i last updated... but im alive, its just exams... don't worry though next chapter will be ready by the end of the week as a special treat for all who waited :D**

**Chapter 3 – Magic begins**

Silence.

"Come on Al, the suspense is killing me here!" James shouted bringing everyone out of their day dreams. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees giving Albus that stare that would not leave him till he did what James asked for.

"**The Vanishing Glass,**" read Albus after turning the page.

"I wonder what that means?" said Lily.

"No idea" replied Roxanne.

"Maybe Uncle Harry does a bit of magic." Hugo muttered.

"Perhaps, this ought to be the time he gets his letter, after all the book can't go on for the ten years of his life." Rose's voice dominated over everyone's.

Everyone nodded at this and Albus took this as a sign to carry on reading.

**Nearly ten years had –**

"See!" Rose interrupted ginning at them all.

"No one doubted you, Rosie." James flashed that croaked grin of his in her direction, sinking more comfortably into his chair.

Albus carried on reading, pretending their interruptions had not bothered him.

**-passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bonnets-**

"Dad has an excellent description of things, just like always." Lily rolled her eyes.

"All the Potter's have that special way with words." James ginned at her.

"Sarcasm, James, its called sarcasm."

**-but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"Wow, their really going out their way to not include him. Aren't they?" Molly muttered to her sister.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

"**Up! Get up! Now!"**

"Noooo! A Potter does NOT get woken up that way!" James shouted.

"Honestly James, Mum wakes you up sort of like that every day in the holidays."

"If only she let me sleep in!" James replied in a devastated voice and clutched at his heart for good measure.

"She does, but don't you want to wake up in the day, than in the night?" Lily laughed at his devastated expression and the others joined her.

Albus just rolled his eyes and carried on reading.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

"**Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"Cool! I love those muggle bike thingy's" Teddy grinned, Victorie just rubbed his arm and cast an amused glance at her siblings.

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

"**Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"**Nearly," said Harry.**

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"She treats him like a servant! He's her family for Merlin's sake!" Rose explained.

They all through outraged glares at the book, as if daring it to offend them again.

**Harry groaned.**

"**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

"**Nothing, nothing…"**

**Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider**

"EK!" Hugo and Rose both jumped up and began shaking.

"What are they doing?" Victoire asked the others. Scorpio had urged Rose and her brother down after explaining that there were no spiders in Hogwarts because the House Elves made sure every room was clean.

"They both inherited Uncle Ron's dislike for spiders." Lily explained.

**off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

"Oh My Merlin!" Molly and Lucy shouted together.

"No way." Teddy raised his eyebrows.

"Good lord" said Rose.

"Merlin's saggy-"

"James! What did mum say about that." Lily shrieked at him.

"Don't say it, yah de yah."

"I can't believe he sleeps in a cupboard." Said Alice.

"And I thought I had it bad." Scorpios replied.

"Poor Uncle Harry." Fred whispered. Roxanne hugged him close to her.

"Why didn't he ever say anything?" Lily asked.

"Can we please get back to the story?" Albus butt on before anyone else could say anything.

They nodded at Albus to continue.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

"Spoilt brat" James muttered.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast**.

"Just like all the Potter's are." Lily said proudly.

"Lily is really fast, even faster on a broom." Alice smiled at her friend.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

"No all Potter's are small and skinny." Said Teddy cheekily.

The three Potters cast him outraged expressions, while the rest of the group laughed.

"Are you going to read the rest Al?" Loran asked.

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair,**

"Wow! He must have looked a sight!" Lucy said.

**and bright green eyes.**

"Just like Grandma Lily!" Lily smiled.

"And Al." James grinned at his brother.

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

"He's not going to like that for long." Teddy muttered, holding onto Victorie more tightly.

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

"**In the car crash when your parents died," she had said.**

Silence.

"WHAT!" several people shouted.

"I can't believe she said that." Victorie shock her head.

"As if a car crash could kill the famous Potter's!" Molly and Lucy said outraged.

"As if they had a car." Rose said.

"Maybe she was to heart broken about what happened that she tried to shield the real story away." Lily muttered.

The others fell to silence thinking about her words.

"**And don't ask questions."**

**Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

"Stupid rule." James muttered still cross at his Aunt.

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

"**Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

They all broke out laughing at this one.

"The Potter hair is impossible to tame." Roxanne laughed out.

"No, Lily's hair looks alright." Scorpious said confused.

"Well then, you should see it in the morning when she wakes up." Albus laughed earning a punch from his sister.

"I swear she spends half an hour just trying to make it lye strait" Alice grinned at her friend's expression.

"Well, at least Aunt Hermione got me those muggle straitens that she charmed so I'd be able to take to Hogwarts." Lily muttered.

"That's why your hair looks a bit too strait." Rose pointed out.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place.**

A few stray giggles came from the group.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head.**

"Attractive." Lily muttered.

"Really? I thought he looked a bit like an over large pig." James said mock seriously.

The others laughed at his comparison.

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

James grinned widely; it seemed like all Potter men thought alike.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"Merlin, even I don't get that many presents." Scorpious said.

"**Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."**

"Someone can't count." Hugo grinned.

"**All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?"**

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"**

"Seriously? How old is this kid?" Scorpious asked.

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

Scorpious smiled.

Rose rolled her eyes.

"**Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**

"**Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR.**

"Huh?" several voices asked.

"Muggle inventions." Scorpious answered surprising everyone. "Rose took muggle studies, so did I." he smiled guiltily at her.

Everyone laughed while Rose kissed Scorpious on the cheek. Making her brother make vomiting gestures.

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him."**

**She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

"Ew!" they all chorused.

"**Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

They all shuddered.

"Even you Lil?" Dominque asked.

"I might like cats, but this woman seems weird. Too weird." Lily answered.

"**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

"**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

"Poor Uncle Harry." Lysander, Fred and Louise muttered.

"**What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?"**

"**On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

"**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

"No chance, if we know these people." Molly pointed out.

"I've met them." They all looked at Teddy in surprise.

"You've met them too. Lily, Al and James. Their just a bit different now."

"Oh" the Potter's all chorused.

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

"Nice look." Alice grinned.

"No, Alice. Please don't!" Lily begged.

"What?" everyone else asked.

"Well I once dared Lily here, to eat a lemon when we were in the school kitchens. She ended up being sick, all over one of the house elves, missing the bucket they were caring."

Everyone laughed.

"**And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

"**I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

"We did that once." Albus and James grinned at each other reminiscing at their father and mother's expression in the morning.

"We know. That's why you're both not allowed to sleep in the same room any more." Teddy grinned at the two boys that were partially his younger brothers.

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car…"**

"**That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…"**

"Wow, their treating him like an animal or something." Loran remarked.

"He must have felt really lonely." Roxanne said sadly.

"I wonder when he meets dad." Hugo muttered.

"Probably on the train." Rose answered in a confident voice.

"Wanna bet on that? I say before." James cast her a cocky grin as if knowing the answer. Rose narrowed her eyes at him.

"Ok, one galleon." Rose replied.

"You're on" James said.

They shock hands.

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"**Dinky Duddydums,**

"Oh no…" Molly screamed.

"Merlin save us!" shouted Lucy.

"Molly! Lucy!" the others rolled their eyes at the sisters.

"Sorry. Can't help it, were too dramatic for our own good." They both answered.

**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

"**I… don't… want… him… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

"Cry baby." James cast a scow at the book unhappy that his uncle had treated his dad like this once.

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother.**

**Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

They all rolled their eyes at this.

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

"**I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"Isn't he already in that cupboard?" Fred asked.

"Maybe he's planning on locking him up." Louis said outraged at the thought.

"But he can't! Dad would starve!" Lily shouted.

"He's ok, Lily." Albus said. Putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I know he is now. But what about then." Lily stared down at her lap worried

"Well he'll do what any Potter would do." James answered grinning at his siblings

Lily nodded. And a few of the others cast curious glances at the siblings.

"**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…"**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

"Magic!" Hugo jumped up and down.

"Really?" Molly asked.

"No! You don't say." Lucy muttered.

"But I do." Hugo said sadly missing their sarcasm.

"Come on guys. If this carries on we'll never finish this chapter, let alone this book." Teddy interrupted.

"Ok." Molly and Lucy said.

"Back to you Al." Rose grinned.

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

"Dun dun da!" James whispered knowing what was going to happen.

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.**

"Wow!" Alice remarked.

"Is that a Potter thing?" Loran and Lysander asked.

"Yep." Albus and James answered.

"Guys!" Teddy pretended to glare at them.

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

"Their punishing him for accidental magic that madness!" Rose scowled; Scorpious rubbed her back in an effort to calm her down.

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls).**

"EW!" they all shrieked getting mental images of the sweater.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry.**

"Yay!" Lily, Alice and Dominque grinned, glad that no one would have to wear it.

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.**

"Dad flew!" Albus grinned.

"Wow." The youngest kids said in awe.

"That's amazing" Molly and Lucy said together.

"Serious magic." Teddy said.

"Grandma Lily did that too." Lily said surprising everyone.

"What?"

"Yeah. Dad told me, when I did a similar thing when I jumped out of that tree in our back yard."

"I saw that." James smiled at his sister.

"I thought you were going to fall, until you landed a metre away from the tree on your feet." Teddy grinned at her clearly remembering that day.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

"I have a bad feeling." Scorpious muttered.

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

"…**roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"Oh no…" all the Weasley cried shacking their heads at Harry's stupidity.

"The Potter brains." Roxanne grinned evilly at James and Albus.

"Hey!" Lily tried to defend herself.

"Theirs nothing wrong with our brains!" Albus and James chorused.

"Yes there is!" all the Weasley's answered.

"Merlin what's going to happen now?" Loran asked.

"Albus. Please just keep reading" Teddy rolled his eyes at the family's theatrics.

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

"Yes some do!" they all said.

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"Not… dangerous ideas!" Roxanne said sarcastically.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop.**

"I like those!" Lily smiled.

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

They all laughed.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him.**

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

"It seems too good; something's going to go wrong." Lily bit her lip worried.

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"Dun, Dun, Dun…" James said dramatically.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

"**Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

"**This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

"Why is he comparing himself to the snake?" Hugo asked.

They all shrugged their shoulders."

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

"What?" they all raised their eyebrows in confusion apart from Teddy who looked as if he was in deep thought.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

"**I get that all the time."**

"Is he talking to the snake?" Dominque asked.

"He'd have to be a Parseltongue to do that, and Uncle Harry can't do that." Rose said in confusion.

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

"**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

"**Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?"**

"Isn't anyone worried that he seems to find this normal?" Victorie asked the others nodded their answer.

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

"Oh no!" they all cried.

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.**

"Oh no he didn't!" Albus and James cried in their fathers defence.

"if I know the Potters, Harry's going to get revenge." Whispered Teddy to himself, while Victorie grinned at her boyfriend who was talking to himself.

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

"What happened?" Rose asked impatiently, while sitting at the edge of her seat.

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

Silence.

Most of the group fell out of their bean bags and onto the floor howling with laughter. After about ten minutes of this Teddy was the first to regain breath and sat up from the floor.

"Read on Al, before all dignity leaves the room."

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

"That must have been a sight!" Rose grinned at her cousins.

James had an evil glint in his eye that told Albus that he'd thought of a new prank, or found out something _very_ interesting.

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigo."**

"It has a sense of humour!" Molly and Lucy cried before they fell into a bunch of giggles.

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

"I bet he was." Lily grinned at her brothers.

"**But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

"Oh muggles!" sighed Alice.

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**.

"Oh dear, this isn't going to end well." Victorie told her boyfriend.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

"Gosh, over act much." Lily glared at the book, willing it to argue back at her.

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

"Just like James." Dominique muttered.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

"That's definitely the killing curse, how did he survive that?" Rose whispered to Scorpious who just shrugged his shoulders.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.**

The three Potters looked sad at this, their father never knew his parents and they knew they took it for grant age sometimes that they did know their own.

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

_He doesn't even know what they look like_. They all thought, sadness outlined these thoughts at Harry's upbringing.

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened;**

They all sighed, if only that had happened.

**the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too.**

They grinned at this, but the amusement did not reach any of their eyes.

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

"Magic!" James shouted to try to lighten the mood. A few giggles escaped from his cousins and friends.

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"No friends and no family…" Rose said in wonder, having always been surrounded by others for her whole life.

Silence filled the room as they all thought of this.

"Al, finish the chapter will you?" Roxanne asked.

"It's finished." He grinned at their shocked faces.

"I suppose that means it's my turn then." James smirked at them all.

Teddy rolled his eyes.

"Could we have a bathroom break after the next chapter, I'm sure everyone will be bursting." Lily blurted out, while some others blushed at her forwardness.

"Yeah, I think little Albus here is about to leak all over the floor." James laughed at his younger brother. While Albus glared at James with redden ears.

* * *

><p><em>note: like? dislike? review? please? :D love you forever! ok that was cheesy...<em>


	4. Mental Relatives

**Disclaimer: my name is izzy not J.k however much i wish it were...so i really don't own harry potter sorry for upsetting all you're hopes and dreams... ;)**

**note: ok so it was a bit longer than a week...sorry? well this chapter is really long so i hope that makes up for it, next chapter will be about um... sometime easly next month? a great big thank you to all who review and like my story, you're the best!**

**Chapter 4- Mental Relatives**

"**Letters From No One," **James read. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Well it would be his Hogwarts letter wouldn't it?" Rose said.

"Oh." The rest of them finally dawning on them the importance of this chapter.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

"Poor woman." Lily said. The others nodded their heads agreeing with her.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.**

"Honestly, I thought he would be the one bullied." Louis said confused.

"Why?" asked Hugo.

"Because of his weight problem." Fred grinned.

"I did think it was a problem, I thought it was genetics." Said Rose, receiving confused looks from everyone.

"Huh?" James asked.

"He inherited his weight." Rose explained.

"Oh." They all muttered, still not really getting Rose's answer.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

"That must be the only reason he's not the size of a killer whale then." Albus said grinning at his brother.

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

"Well he won't be going to this 'secondary school' at least." Teddy laughed at his godfather's logic.

"**They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

"What kind of school allows that?" Molly asked.

"**No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

"wow." They all muttered.

"Good one Harry." Lucy shouted, as if Harry could hear them.

Everyone finally feel into fits of laughter.

"Looks like we found where Lily gets her insults from." Scorpious laughed out.

"I don't know, aunt Ginny has really good insults." Teddy argued.

"No, lily got mum's ability to cause some frightening damage with her wand in just a couple of seconds." Albus grinned.

"Don't get on the bad side of Lily Potter, because she won't even offer cookies to her followes." James replied cheekily, while lily just rolled her eyes at her brother's ability to be stupid while knowing what he said to be true.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's.**

**Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**

"To good to be true, right?" Fred asked to himself or the book, the others weren't sure.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"Merlin, he must have looked stupid." Albus tried to picture what his uncle must have looked like, but kept coming up with a pig in uniform, which really sent him into a laughing fit.

"How could that be 'good training for later life'?" Rose asked. No one replied thinking it over.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

"That image would make anyone laugh." Teddy said while looking at the people around him silently shaking with laughter.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

"EW, what's that?" Dominique asked.

"If you don't interrupt I'm sure we'll find out." Victorie patted her sister's shoulder.

"**What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

"**Your new school uniform," she said.**

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

"**Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

"Oh, the old fashioned sarcasm." Molly and Lucy nodded in approval.

"It won't work on her." Albus grinned with a glint in his eye, shifting his focus towards his sister.

"How do you know?" Roxanne asked.

"Last time we went to see them; well I asked her a question." Lily muttered looking in her lap.

"You should have seen her face!" James grinned with glee.

"Really?" Scorpious asked intrigued.

"What did you ask, Lily?" Rose asked her cousin.

"Well, I asked her if the fairy liquid she was using was really filled with fairy magic." Lily bit her lip embarrassed to say the least.

The others howled with laughter at a younger lily asking her muggle aunt such a question.

"**Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

"Wow is she thick or something?" asked Teddy.

"No she's naturally an idiot!" remarked Roxanne.

The group laughed again.

"Go on James." Said Rose, rolling her eyes at her cousins.

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue.**

**He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

"EW!" shrieked Victorie and Dominique along with some of the other girls.

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

"**Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"It's the apocalypse!" cried Molly and Lucy; they jumped up from their seats and raced around the room screaming their heads off.

"Whoa" remarked the others.

"Read that line again James I'm not sure I heard that right…" said Albus.

"**Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"No, it can't be!" Remarked Louis.

"Seriously? You've got to be kidding us, right?" Fred asked.

"You're joking, tell me you're joking." Scorpious pleaded.

"I'm joking" James answered.

Silence.

"Really?" asked Victorie.

"Yeah it actually says: "get the mail, squid and Merlin," said uncle Vernon from behind his paper. And then-" James went off.

"James this joke has gone on long enough." Rose interrupted.

The others howled with laughter at the image.

"But really it actually says that?" Alice asked.

"Yep" James replied, rolling his eyes and reading the next sentence.

"**Make Harry get it."**

"**Get the mail, Harry."**

"**Make Dudley get it."**

The group snickered at this.

"**Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

"Abuse!" cried the Weasley twins.

"Child abuse!" Loran and Lysander stated.

"Minnie shall hear about this!" cried James.

"He can't do that!" Rose pleaded.

"He can, and he probably already has." Said Teddy his voice cracked in the middle, his poor godfather had to go through so much suffering through his youth.

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick**

"Yay" the group cheered.

**and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and — **_**a letter for Harry**_**.**

"Dad's got his Hogwarts letter!" lily cried with happiness, after all it was always a remembered day when that letter finally arrived.

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives — he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**The Cupboard under the Stairs 4 Privet Drive**_

"That's sure give the Dursleys something to be frightened about." Hugo said, the others nodded in agreement and some smirks flowed around the group with hints of mischief in their eyes.

_**Little Whinging**_

_**Surrey**_

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink.**

"Open it!" the group cheered together.

**There was no stamp.**

"Open it!" the three Potters whispered.

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter **_**H**_**.**

"Yes, Hogwarts!" shouted all the Weasley's.

"We all knew it was from them, from the beginning!" Alice explained.

"Yes, but still-"Molly started.

"The excitement!" Lucy Finished.

"**Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

The group shook their heads at this, and Molly and Lucy clutched their hearts and fell to the floor in despair.

"What's a letter bomb?" asked Hugo.

No one answered.

**Harry went back**

"Nooooooo!" the group shouted.

"oh it's the stupid Potter gene striking again!"

They all moaned at the lost hope for Harry.

**to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

"Quickly!" Albus was losing hope fast for his father and his future.

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

"**Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…"**

The group cheered at the discomfort of a relation of Vernon's.

"**Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

"Shut up," they all hissed.

"No no no!" cried lily sitting at the edge of her seat again, the others leaned forward.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter,**

"Nearly there!" Teddy grabbed Victorie's hand in anticipation.

"Will he make?" said Roxanne in a comminatory type way.

"Let's hope!" replied Fred.

"Quick dad!" Albus hissed at the book.

**which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

The group bowled their heads to remember the great first letter to Harry Potter, the first but hopefully not the last.

"**That's **_**mine**_**!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

"Ah if only muggles couldn't touch our letters!" remarked Dominique.

"**Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.**

"He's changing colour!" James gasped out while they all laughed at Harry's uncle.

"**P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

"**Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!"**

"Gee over react much." Everyone muttered.

"They don't seem to be pleased." Albus muttered sarcastically.

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

"Now that is adult abuse." Loran stated while the others laughed at the image.

"**I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

"He knows how to read?" Rose's eyes widened in surprise.

"He wouldn't understand a word." Scorpious laughed.

"It's not even his!" Alice stated.

"Dudley won't get to read it anyway; his father will probably burn it or something." Teddy said.

The others looked worriedly at each other, when would Harry get his letter?

"_**I **_**want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's **_**mine**_**."**

"Rightfully so." Lily said proud fully.

"**Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

"**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"Whoa." Molly and Lucy said with surprise, their eyes widened comically.

"Watch out for Uncle Harry." Hugo whispered.

"Did you really have to scream that last part, James?" Roxanne asked.

"I'm never getting on Uncle Harry's bad side again." Fred said.

"You've got dad's temper little sister." James grinned cheekily at his sister.

Lily poked her tongue out at James for his comment.

"Ugh, can we just get this chapter over with?" Rose asked.

"**Let **_**me **_**see it!" demanded Dudley.**

"**OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry,** **his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

"**Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

"**Watching — spying — might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

"Paranoid much?" lily muttered.

"**But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want —"**

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

"**No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… Yes, that's best… we won't do anything…"**

"Will that work?" asked Rose.

"I don't know" they all said.

"If Rose doesn't know who does?" Hugo smirked at his sister good naturally.

The group laughed while Rose scowled at them and Scorpious patted her shoulder.

"**But —"**

"**I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

They all rolled their eyes at this, how could someone 'stamp out' magic?

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"**Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

"**No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly.**

"**I have burned it."**

"Told you." Said Teddy smugly.

"**It was **_**not **_**a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

"**SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling.**

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

"**Er — yes, Harry — about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom.**

They stared at the book in ashonishment.

"Gee that's just like the Dursley's." said Alice.

"Al, you don't even know them." Lily looked at her friend in puzzlement, while quietly fuming inside at her father's treatment.

"How could they treat him like that when they had two bedrooms…" Rose said confused at why they must hate Harry so much.

"I'm going to kill them!" lily stated, in anger at what these people had done to her father so far.

"Careful Lily, don't want to be labelled mass murder like Uncle Sirius was." Albus said carefully, though he was equally annoyed at these people who were his family.

"I don't care, this is too much!" lily shrieked.

Lily slammed his fist down on the floor. James put the book down on the floor and reached toward his sister; both he and Albus embraced her and rocked back and forth, in an effort to calm themselves. After a while they let go and resumed their seats.

"**Why?" said Harry.**

"**Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been cancelled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't **_**want **_**him in there… I **_**need **_**that room… make him get out…"**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it.**

**They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —'"**

"Wow he really is dumb." Alice said with a fake look of surprise on her face.

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

"**Go to your cupboard — I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley — go — just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

"I don't like the sound of that, another Potter plan that is." Teddy shook his head in sadness of what was about to happen.

"Hey! There only bad at the beginning, we've had better ones over the years!" James said outraged while his other two siblings glared at their favourite almost brother.

The group rolled their eyes at the Potter kids.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door —**

"**AAAAARRRGH!"**

"See?" Teddy replied smugly, the others rolled their eyes but otherwise didn't pay attention.

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something **_**alive**_**!**

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"**I want —" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day.**

**He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

"**See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't **_**deliver **_**them they'll just give up."**

"That's not going to work." Said Rose.

"**I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

"See even the horse agrees with me!"

"**Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

"I've never been prouder of that fact." James said lifting his head up and smiling to the heavens.

They all giggled and laughed.

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.**

"Awesome!" the Weasley twins cried, high five'ing each other, and the others nearest them.

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

"Merlin he's gone crazy." The Scamander twins said in awe.

"I hope that doesn't affect Harry." Victorie said worried.

"He seems alright now, so he must have got over this." Teddy grinned at his girlfriend.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two-dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

"**Who on earth wants to talk to **_**you **_**this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

They all laughed at Dudley.

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**

"**No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today —"**

They all fell out their chairs at this, anticipating of what was going to happen.

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one —**

"Like a true seeker!" James grinned at the book.

"Doesn't he realise he's talking to an animate object?" Rose stage whispered.

The others shrugged their shoulders but silently laughed at James.

"**Out! OUT!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

"**That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while.**

"**Shake 'em off… shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

"Um what does he think he's doing?" Molly asked.

"The letters will find him anyway." Roxanne said knowingly.

"This just makes him look even more mental." Said Albus, receiving laughs from the others.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering…**

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

"'**Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**Room 17**_

_**Railview Hotel**_

_**Cokeworth**_

They all laughed imagining Vernon's face.

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

"**I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

"**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her.**

"Ah at least there is some common sense left." Albus said.

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

"**Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon.**

James stopped reading.

There was silence.

"Wow it's that obvious?" Alice said surprised.

They all broke down with laughter.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.**

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.**

"**It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a **_**television**_**."**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it **_**was **_**Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.**

"Happy birthday dad!" James said.

"Wow, that's so weird. He's younger than us." Albus said in puzzlement.

"yeah." Lily agreed.

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**

"No!" they all shouted.

"He's never had real presents before!" Scorpious said amazed.

"Wow, Uncle Harry's a better survivor than I thought." Molly and Lucy whipped tears from their eyes as if they were in pain at the very thought of not having presents.

**Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling.**

"Oh no." the group muttered worried looks covering their faces.

**He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

"**Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

"**Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.**

"**I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas.**

**He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shrivelled up.**

"Gee I bet he looks like a hobo now." Albus said making the others laugh.

"**Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail.**

**Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

"No don't give up Uncle Harry!" they all cried.

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

They all sighed at the Dursley's unfairness.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.**

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him**

"Yeah do it!" James and Albus shouted. Lily just rolled her eyes at her brothers through secretly she was agreeing with them.

— **three… two… one…**

**BOOM.**

"Huh?" they all said in surprise.

"What just happened?" Rose asked.

"If James carries on reading I'm sure it will say." Teddy said.

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

Silence.

"Well what does it say next?" Fred asked.

"Nothing, it's the next chapter." James Replied.

James passed the book to Hugo who was sitting next to him.

"I'm hungry." Alice said.

"It will probably be time for lunch after the next chapter." Roxanne muttered while clutching her stomach.

"Food!" shouted Albus.

"Hey, I was thinking will we be allowed to sit in the great hall?" Victorie asked.

"Does Minnie even know were here?" Molly and Lucy pointed out.

"I'm sure she does, all head's know the castle too well." Rose replied.

"Go on Hugo, let us have it!" Roxanne told her little cousin, as if asking him to join a fight.

* * *

><p><em>note: wow, long chapter, just got this finish i felt i owed you guys something and well here it is! please review i'll give you a computerized cupcake! XD<em>


	5. Freedom at last!

_Declaimer: i don't own Harry Potter_

**_Chapter 5: Freedom at last!_**

"Oh no, look at the time!" Teddy said.

"What?" James cried.

"Its two hours away from lunch!" Teddy moaned, the rest of the boys joined in including Rose. Who had inherited her fathers eating habits.

"Ugh" Rose clutched at her stomach in an effort to keep it quiet.

"So hungry" moaned Fred wrapping his arms around his waist and rolling on the floor.

"We know" Roxanne said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at her brother.

"So after the next chapter then." Alice said, shooting a look at Hugo.

"Yes, now hop on it Hugo!" Molly and Lucy grinned.

"**The Keeper of the Keys,"**Hugo read.

"Hagrid!" everyone shouted.

"Obviously." Teddy said rolling his eyes.

"Wow, so he was the one that told dad he was a wizard then." Said Lily.

"Wonder how that went." James grinned at his brother.

**BOOM.**

They all jumped.

"Wow Hugo, no need to be dramatic!" Rose raised her eyebrows at her brother.

"I think you busted my eardrums." Victorie said.

**They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake.**

"**Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

"How stupid is that kid?" James asked.

"Aren't they on some island in the middle of the sea? Does he think its pirates?" said Rose sarcastically.

"What's a pieate?" Loran asked Rose questioningly.

"A pirate is-"

"You can tell them later Rose." Scorpious said tapping his girlfriend on the shoulder.

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

"**Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed!"**

"So is Hagrid." James said laughing trying to break the tension of the thought of the whale charring a gun near his father.

**There was a pause. Then —**

**SMASH!**

"Hugo!" everyone shouted.

"Sorry!"

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

**A giant of a man** **was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

"**Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…"**

They all laughed, it was just a typical Hagrid saying.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

"**Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

"Like a sandwich!" Fred said exited.

"Huh?" the others looked at him questioningly, while Rose's mouth watered at the thought of food.

"You know…"

"No" they all said, but James and Albus had a strange light in their eyes suddenly understanding.

"Two big slices of bread and in the middle a small slice of ham."

"Fat joke!" James cried.

"Yeah, yeah very funny." Alice said rolling her eyes at the boys stupidity.

"**An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

"**Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes." Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

"I've got dad's eyes aswell!" Albus smiled while his siblings scowled, both jealous of the green eyes Albus shared with their dad and grandmother.

"**I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

"**Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant;**

"I love Hagrid's insults they get more colourful every time" James laughed along with his brother and Fred.

**he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Well at least he won't accidently shot Harry now." Rose said trying to make every feel better, even if they were still worrying for her Uncle's safety.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

"**Anyway — Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

"Dad shouldn't eat that then" Albus said.

"Yeah remember when we dared Fred to eat one of his Rock cakes" James laughed out.

The boys rolled around laughing.

"Yeah, yeah laugh away but you didn't have to regrow your teeth now did you?" Fred said clearly amused but annoyed at the same time.

"Let's just carry on if you don't mind" Lily said rolling her eyes.

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with **_**Happy Birthday Harry **_**written on it in green icing.**

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

**The giant chuckled.**

"**True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

"**What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

The group all rolled their eyes at this. Typical Hagrid.

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea.**

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

"Like Hagrid would give that overgrown whale anything." James said.

"That's Uncle Dudley your teasing, Aunt Sally wouldn't like you saying that. After all he has been on a diet since then." Lily scowled at him, while James just rolled his eyes and shugged.

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

"**Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

"**Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts — yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course.**

"**Er — no," said Harry.**

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

"**Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

"I don't think Hagrid going to resmond lightly to this." Teddy said grinning at the image.

"_**Sorry**_**?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"**

"**All what?" asked Harry.**

"Now that's going to piss him off." Molly said grinning at her sister.

"**ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered.**

"**Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

"**Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?"**

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

"Ah Uncle Harry, so innocent." Lucy said all the while shaking her head.

"**I know **_**some **_**things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff."**

The group laughed.

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About **_**our **_**world, I mean. **_**Your **_**world. **_**My **_**world. **_**Yer parents' world**_**."**

"**What world?"**

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

"Awesome" James, Fred and Albus all said at the same time.

"**DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're **_**famous**_**. You're **_**famous**_**."**

"**What? My — my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

"Famous for dying." Lily said sadly.

The others looked at the ground and sighed, it was so unfair.

"**Yeh don' know… yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

"**Yeh don' know what yeh **_**are**_**?" he said finally.**

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

"**Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

"**You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

"**Kept **_**what **_**from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

"**STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"How's that shocking? Serious this woman is mad in the head."

"**Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry — yer a wizard."**

The group screamed, jumping up and down with joy.

"At last." Roxanne said.

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

"**I'm a **_**what**_**?" gasped Harry.**

"Wow that's a reaction, poor Harry." Dominique said.

"Poor harry, the boy who had to surive cupboards, raving uncles, fat cousins and a half giant exploding into their house on the sea." Alice said rolling her eyes, it sounded so impossible for the man they saw today.

"It was quite an entrance though." Hugo said.

"Yeah, Hagrid knows how to make a scene." Molly and Lucy laughed.

"Remember Halloween last year?" James asked.

"Ah that was something I'll never forget." Fred said, eyes glazing over at the memory.

"Back to the story?" Victorie asked.

"Totally." They all replied.

"**A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good 'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to **_**Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. **_**He pulled out the letter and read:**

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**_

"Dumbledore sure was something wasn't he?" Rose said smiling at the thought of the great wizard.

"Yeah, I heard he was the best headmaster Hogwarts had ever had." Roxanne said smiling at her cousin.

_**Dear Mr. Potter,**_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**_

_**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**_

_**Yours sincerely,**_

_**Minerva McGonagall,**_

"Minnie!" all the boys shouted, while the girls rolled their eyes and giggled.

_**Deputy Headmistress**_

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

"**Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl**

"That_ has_ to be animal abuse." Dominique said frowning.

— **a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

_**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**_

_**Given Harry his letter.**_

_**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**_

_**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**_

_**Hagrid**_

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

They all rolled their eyes at this, after all they were so used to owl post it was second nature.

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

"**Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

"**He's not going," he said.**

"And you're going to stop him?" James asked laughing at the thought.

"Seriously doesn't this guy want Harry out of his life?" Loran asked.

"Yeah but he doesn't want him to be a wizard." Alice said reasonably.

"But he must have realised Harry has no control over that?" Lysander asked.

"No, he probably thinks you can turn it on and off." Hugo said rolling his eyes.

"Gesh, if Harry didn't go to Hogwarts he wouldn't be able to control his magic." Fred said.

"He had brilliant control already though." Teddy reminded them.

"Yeah, it's really good. Better than mine was anyway." Victorie smiled.

"The story?" Rose reminded them.

"Oh yeah."

**Hagrid grunted.**

"**I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

"**A what?" said Harry, interested.**

"**A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

"**We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

"**You **_**knew**_**?" said Harry. "You **_**knew **_**I'm a — a wizard?"**

"**Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "**_**Knew**_**! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was?**

"Grandma Lily wasn't dratted!" Lily shouted angrily at the book, she and the rest of the group glaring at the book as if it was its fault.

**Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that — that **_**school **_— **and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats.**

"Wow, Grandma Lily got to do magic outside school." James said staring at the book in shock.

"All muggle-borns get to show their familes a piece of magic they learned during the holidays, mum told me." Rose said grinning at him.

**I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak!**

No one said a thing, slightly out of shock but mostly out of anger.

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

"Rightly so!" the three Potter's said at the same time, eager to stick up for their grandmother.

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

"**Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as — as —**_**abnormal **_— **and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

"She's jealous." Scorpious said quietly.

"How would you know?"Rose asked.

"Think about it, two sisters, one becomes a witch and leaves to go to school their parents proud of her and paying special attention to her. The other stays home, doesn't get to be part of the new magical world and desmises her sister for leaving her behind." Scorpious said reasonably.

The others nodded their heads understanding.

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

"**CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

"**But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

"**I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh — but someone's gotta — yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

"I love those!" Fred grinned.

"Especially when their not thrown your way." Albus smiled.

"**Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it…"**

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows —"**

"**Who?"**

"**Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

"**Why not?"**

"**Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went… bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…"**

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

"**Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

"**Nah — can't spell it. All right —**_**Voldemort**_**. "**

The goup sighed, finally Harry would find out.

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him — an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.**

"**Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before… probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.**

"**Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' —"**

Everyone was quiet, all had pale faces and holding onto the nearest person. All thinking of the pain this man (if he can be called that) inficted onto so many people's lives.

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

"**Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find — anywa…**

"**You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then — an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it.**

**Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry.**

"Its an awful thing to be famous for." Teddy said, looking into his lap being reminded of his parents was hard. Victorie seemed to sence his agony and she wrapped an arm around him, silently telling him she was there.

**No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts**

The group all bowed their heads at this, they knew hardly anything about their lost great uncles apart from the fact they were very much like Fred and George were. They knew how it still hurt their Grandmother, how she had lost both her brothers and one of her son's to this war.

— **an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before — and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

"That's awful." Teddy said sickend by the thought.

"I didn't know dad remembered that." Albus said upset.

"It's horrible." Rose agreed.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"****Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot…."**

**"****Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

**"****Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you,****probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured ****— ****and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion ****— ****asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"**

"That's it I'm totally punching him in the gut next time we're forced to see them!" James stood up angrily, pacing.

"How dare he!" Victorie said outraged.

"Beating? They wouldn't dare" Rose muttered angrily.

"Better off without them! You're going to get it Vermon!" Albus yelled.

"Let me at him!" Lily shouted, standing up and running to the door. But before she could get there Teddy picked her up and put her back in her seat.

"AH!" lily pouted.

"Just get on with it Hugo." Teddy nodded his head, while inside he was furious.

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat.**

**Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley — I'm warning you — one more word…"**

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

"**That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

"**But what happened to Vol-, sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

"**Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see… he was gettin' more an' more powerful — why'd he go?**

"**Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die.**

They all looked down cast at this information; if only their world knew that they still needed to be careful because of his return would not have gone as he planned.

**Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.**

"**Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — **_**I **_**dunno what it was, no one does **— **but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake.**

**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

"Ah Uncle Harry." Rose muttered shaking her head.

"**Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

Everyone laughed at this.

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

"**Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it… every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry… chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach… dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back… and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

"**See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

"**Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish — spell books and wands and —"**

"He actually read them?" Roxanne asked.

"Well they're all jealous, all felt like there was something better out in the world and Harry's the only one who can really reach it." Scorpious said reasonably.

"**If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born.**

"Everyone's has." Rose said smiling.

"We know Rose!" everyone told her at the same time.

**He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled—"**

"**I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"He's really asking for it, isn't he?" Teddy asked.

"Everyone knows not to insult Hagrid's friends, especially Dumbledore and the golden Trio." Alice said.

"Guys got it coming if you ask me." James grinned.

"I hope Hagrid does something good." Molly and Lucy chuckled.

"Mawhaha!" Albus crackled evily.

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER —" he thundered, "— INSULT — ALBUS — DUMBLEDORE — IN — FRONT — OF — ME!" He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley — there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

They all began to laugh.

"Wow!" Lily got out between giggles.

"I was not expecting that" Fred shock his head with laughter.

"Brilliant!" cried Molly.

"Awesome!" Lucy shouted.

"Ah, now that's how you do it." James chuckled.

"Hagrid really is amazing isn't he?" Alice told Lily.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

"**Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

"Classic!" they all laughed out.

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

"**Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm — er — not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff — one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job."**

"**Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

"**Oh, well — I was at Hogwarts meself but I — er — got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

"Hagrid was expelled?" Rose asked.

"I didn't know that." Teddy muttered.

"I wonder how it happened." James asked.

"Dad probably knows." Lily pointed out.

"Which means we will most likely know." Alice said pointing to the book.

"**Why were you expelled?"**

"**It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

"**You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' doormice in one o' the pockets."**

"More animal abuse!" Lily looked outraged.

"He really doesn't treat some animals that great. Does he?" Dominique shock her head making her strawberry blonde hair wave around her shoulders.

"The dormice are probably safe, maybe…" Albus bit his lip unsure.

"Hey, dad will be going to Diagon alley next!" James jumped up and down on his bean bag.

"Oh yeah." Lily brightened.

"Awesome!" Molly and Lucy grinned.

"My turn" Rose stated.

"When's lunch?" Louis asked.

"After Scorp's chapter" Roxanne told him.

"That's ages away!" Fred said over dramatically.

"No its not, it's just after Rosie's." Scorpious grinned.

"Hey! Don't call me that." Rose scowled.

"Ok Rosie!" Scorpious laughed at her.

"Ugh."

Everyone laughed at Rose's expression.

"Just give me the book Hugo."

"Here Sis." Hugo grinned at her.

* * *

><p><em>Note: sorry for the wait, i've been working on another story, hope you like this chapter, i will probably post the other next month. review pleaseeee! XD<em>


	6. A Birthday Remembered

**Chapter 6: A Birthday Remembered**

**Author Note: I don't own Harry Potter so everything in Bold is obviously not written by me.**

"So we're definitely having lunch after the next chapter?" Hugo smiled at his sister who opened the book to the next chapter.

"Yes, and if you let me read then lunch will come sooner." Rose rolled her eyes.

"Get to it then!" James smirked and gestured to the book.

**Diagon Alley**, Rose read.

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight.**

"I hate it when that happens; the light is always blinding you in the morning even when you close your eyes." Loran shook his head, nods of agreement went round the group but Rose ignored this and carried on.

**It was a dream, he told himself firmly. I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard.**

"Wouldn't that suck?" Fred laughed.

"Totally," Alice giggled.

**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.**

**And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door, Harry thought, his heart sinking.**

"He's really trying to deny that this is happening to him, isn't he?" Albus frowned wondering how this boy could really be their dad.

**But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.**

**Tap. Tap. Tap.**

**"All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."**

"Well doesn't that prove it? I mean wouldn't his aunt be shouting at him to wake up if he'd dreamt all that happened?" Lysander shrugged.

**He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak.**

**Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open.**

"Then he flew out…" James chuckled causing the others to ignore him and raise a couple of eyebrows in his direction.

**The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.**

**"Don't do that."**

**Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.**

**"Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl —"**

**"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.**

"he wouldn't know how though…" Dominique pointed out.

"**What?"**

**"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."**

**Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets — bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags… finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

**"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.**

"I really thought Hagrid was wiser than this." Teddy shook his head in amusement.

**"Knuts?"**

**"The little bronze ones."**

**Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.**

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.**

"Was he just being lazy then?" Hugo asked.

"He might have been trying to teach Uncle Harry…" Rose said unsurely.

"Sure, he was." James rolled his eyes.

**"Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."**

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

"Not the puncture!" Fred and James cried out.

**"Um — Hagrid?"**

**"Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

**"I haven't got any money — and you heard Uncle Vernon last night… he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

"I can see why he's worried about that." Roxanne nodded.

**"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"**

**"But if their house was destroyed —"**

"He thinks they left all their money in their house?" Scorpious asked amused causing a couple of people to laugh.

"I suspect that's because he doesn't know the Wizarding world has a bank, he already see's that wizards to things differently to muggles, so why not that as well?" Lily said rationally.

**"They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold — an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

**"Wizards have banks?"**

"See?" Lily smirked.

"Ok, Lil we won't doubt your marvellous mind again." Teddy sighed.

"Thanks Teddy." Lily winked.

**"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."**

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.**

**"Goblins?"**

**"Yeah — so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe — 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you — gettin' things from Gringotts — knows he can trust me, see."**

"The curiosity is maximized. " Albus grinned.

**"Got everythin'? Come on, then." Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

**"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat.**

**"Flew," said Hagrid.**

"Whoa!" Molly and Lucy said in unison both with looks on their faces that suggested that they were trying to imagine it.

"Cool!" Hugo shouted in glee.

"Do you think he flew without a broomstick?" Alice asked wide eyed.

"Of course he must have, Hagrid is too heavy to sit on a broom." Victorie pointed out.

"Maybe he came on Sirius' motor bike." James grinned.

"I love how he said it so simply." Lily giggled, causing the others to laugh.

**"Flew?"**

**"Yeah — but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."**

**They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying. **

**"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter — er — speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

"Nothing measures up to the thrill of using magic!" Albus smiled.

**"Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.**

**"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

**"Spells — enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way — Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."**

"They don't have dragons down there now that Uncle Charlie found out how they were being treated." Fred laughed.

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.**

"Probably because he never got the chance to ask them." Rose interrupted herself.

**"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.**

**"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

**"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

"Sounds like a great minister." Molly said sarcastically

"I can already see why he's infamous for his bad decisions." Lucy agreed.

**"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"**

**"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

"That's only part of it." Victorie rolled her eyes.

**"Why?"**

**"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."**

"That and we have no idea how they'll react to us, I mean we could have another witch hunt on our hands." Roxanne pointed out.

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street.**

**Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station.**

**Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"**

"Is Hagrid trying to draw attention to himself and Uncle Harry?" Teddy frowned.

**"Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"**

**"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."**

**"You'd like one?"**

**"Wanted one ever since I was a kid — here we go."**

"Dad said he got one remember, Rose? He mentioned hating Hagrid's pets!" Hugo grinned.

"Hagrid got a dragon, when?" Louis asked.

"I don't know, Dad didn't talk about the details…" Hugo muttered.

**They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.**

"Muggle money is so simple! I don't get how people find it had to use!" Albus sighed. Their dad had taught them the difference at a young age, and muggle money always seemed much more simple that wizard coins.

"Not to those of us that don't know how to use it." Victorie shrugged.

**People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.**

**"Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches.**

**Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.**

**"Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."**

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**UNIFORM**

**First-year students will require:**

**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)**

**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**

**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**

**4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)**

**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**

**COURSE BOOKS**

**All students should have a copy of each of the following:**

**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)by Miranda Goshawk**

**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**

**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**

**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch**

**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**

**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**

**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander**

**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**

**OTHER EQUIPMENT**

**1 wand**

**1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)**

**1 set of glass or crystal phials**

**1 telescope set**

**1 brass scales**

**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**

**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**

"No different to it is now." Loran smiled.

**"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.**

**"If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.**

**Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.**

**"I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.**

"You can't miss something you've never had." Roxanne pointed out; out of the corner of her eye Teddy flinched.

"Yes you can." Lily argued seeing Teddy's reaction and thinking of her own grandparents that she's never get to see.

**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up?**

"Unlikely," Fred raised an eyebrow.

**If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.**

"Because he's so different to the other people around him, and how he treats Harry compared to his relatives." Albus frowned.

**"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."**

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it.**

"Keen observer," Alice nodded.

**Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.**

**For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"**

**"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.**

"Way to draw attention to Uncle Harry." Victorie shook her head.

**"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this — can this be —?"**

**The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.**

**Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter… what an honor."**

**He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.**

**"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."**

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming.**

"That must have been so confusing." Lily said.

**Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

**"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."**

**"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."**

**"Always wanted to shake your hand — I'm all of a flutter."**

"Awkward," James winced.

"Now I see why Uncle Harry likes to stay away from the public in general." Fred agreed.

**"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

**"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."**

**"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again — Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.**

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.**

**"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."**

**"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you."**

"I've never heard of him." Molly frowned.

**"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"**

**"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it.**

"Wow, he's going to be a great teacher then." Lucy rolled her eyes.

**"N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.**

"Of course dad needs to learn." Lily stared at the book in Rose's hands.

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.**

**"Must get on — lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."**

**Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.**

**Hagrid grinned at Harry.**

**"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh — mind you, he's usually tremblin'."**

"That really wasn't the best way he could have managed that." Teddy frowned.

**"Is he always that nervous?"**

**"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience… They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag — never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject — now, where's me umbrella?"**

**Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.**

"I wouldn't expect anything less; Hagrid isn't really introducing Uncle Harry in the best way possible to the Wizarding world. It's like he's forgotten that Harry doesn't know everything that he does." Dominique said, getting nods of agreement.

**"Three up… two across…" he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry."**

**He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.**

**The brick he had touched quivered — it wriggled — in the middle, a small hole appeared — it grew wider and wider — a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.**

**"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."**

"Ah Diagon Alley, I loved seeing it the first time with Mum and Dad." James smiled in remembrance.

"The moment was sort of lost on me and Fred since Dad works there." Roxanne rolled her eyes.

"It's such a family moment; I forgot that Harry and I shared on missing out on that, as did our parents." Teddy sighed and Victorie pulled him into a side hug.

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall.**

**The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons — All Sizes — Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver — Self-Stirring — Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.**

**"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes.**

Hugo and Rose shuddered; they had of course inherited their father's phobia to spiders.

**He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad…"**

"Isn't that just a Galleon? And that is a little much," Louis frowned.

"Sounds a bit like something Grandma would say." Lily giggled.

**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium — Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand — fastest ever —"**

"I prefer my Nimbus Three Thousand." James smirked running his hand through his way wood hair.

"I like mum's Firebolt, it's got the right attitude." Lily grinned.

**There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon…**

**"Gringotts," said Hagrid.**

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was —**

**"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:**

**Enter, stranger, but take heed**

**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**

**For those who take, but do not earn,**

**Must pay most dearly in their turn.**

**So if you seek beneath our floors**

**A treasure that was never yours,**

**Thief, you have been warned, beware**

**Of finding more than treasure there.**

**"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.**

Teddy frowned, didn't the adults joke about that?

**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.**

**"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."**

**"You have his key, sir?"**

**"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.**

"Lovely," Victorie said sarcastically.

**"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.**

**The goblin looked at it closely.**

**"That seems to be in order."**

**"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**

"I wonder what this you-know-what is?" James joked.

"I guess we'll probably find out." Rose replied back seriously.

**The goblin read the letter carefully.**

**"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"**

**Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.**

**"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.**

**"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."**

"Good try dad," Albus laughed.

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in — Hagrid with some difficulty — and were off.**

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible.**

**The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.**

**Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late — they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.**

**"I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"**

"How is that relevant? Doesn't Uncle Harry have better questions to ask?" Fred asked confused.

**He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.**

**Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.**

"The trust volt," The three Potter's nodded, making some of the others look at them surprised as Scorpious nodded in understanding.

**"All yours," smiled Hagrid.**

**All Harry's — it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking.**

"They probably would have hesitated at touching it because it's part of the world that they hate." Roxanne said.

"That and they wouldn't have even seen the pub, so they wouldn't even get this far if they wanted to." Dominique pointed out.

**How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London. Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.**

**"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

**"One speed only," said Griphook.**

"It's still way too fast." Rose interrupted her reading again.

"Just the way I like it!" Hugo grinned at his sibling.

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.**

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.**

"Really high security vault," Scorpious said impressed. "Not too many of those."

"Meaning whatever is in there is very valuable." Teddy nodded.

**"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.**

**"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.**

**"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.**

**"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.**

"That's very off putting." James pouted.

"Like anyone could even get away stealing from Gringotts, the Goblins wouldn't let them into the bank ever again." Rose rolled her eyes. Whilst Teddy sat in thought, he dimly remembered when he was really young and how long it took Uncle Harry to get into his vault.

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least — but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor.**

"Anti-climactic." Molly and Lucy noted.

**Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat.**

**Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask.**

**"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.**

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life — more money than even Dudley had ever had.**

"Isn't it a bit dangerous to trust someone so young with so much money?" Victorie asked while looking at James like he was what made her point.

**"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.**

**"Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here — another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

"Maybe Dad can make a friend." Lily smiled.

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.**

**"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"**

**"Yes," said Harry.**

**"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy.**

"Why is his mother doing that?" Rose asked. "It's not like she can pick out a wand for him, after all the wand choices the wizard."

"Odd, why aren't his parents with him?" wondered Scorpious.

**He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."**

"I retract my earlier statement; obviously this boy is quite the spoilt brat." Lily frowned.

**Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

**"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.**

**"No," said Harry.**

**"Play Quidditch at all?"**

**"No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

**"I do — Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

Scorpious started getting an unsettling feeling.

**"No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

**"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been — imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"**

"No! Hufflepuff's are nice!" Lily shouted.

"Yeah, they're loyal and nice people." Hugo nodded in agreement making Alice smile.

**"Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

**"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.**

**"That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

**"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

**"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second.**

"With you there Uncle Harry." Fred agreed.

**"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage — lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

**"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

**"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

**"They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

**"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all.**

"We'll he's lovely isn't he?" Molly rolled her eyes.

"Sounds like a little darling." Lucy snorted.

**"But they were our kind, weren't they?"**

**"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

**"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"**

"Oh Merlin," Scorpious muttered realising that this boy may very well be his father.

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

"That's odd, Uncle Harry's clothes took quicker to make than the other boy's." Louis noticed.

**"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts).**

"Nice choice, though I prefer strawberry." Lily nodded.

**"What's up?" said Hagrid.**

**"Nothing," Harry lied.**

**They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed colour as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

**"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know — not knowin' about Quidditch!"**

"I know it's just awful!" James exclaimed in agreement.

"It's so odd thinking that Dad didn't know what Quidditch is…" Albus agreed.

"Well he was raised by muggles." Loran pointed out.

**"Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's.**

**"— and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in —"**

**"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were — he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles — look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"**

"Nobody should be judged by their family." Lysander muttered.

**"So what is Quidditch?"**

**"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like — like soccer in the Muggle world — everyone follows Quidditch — played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls — sorta hard ter explain the rules."**

"No it isn't!" James and Fred shouted.

**"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

**"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but —"**

"No we're not!" Alice pouted.

**"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," said Harry gloomily.**

"There's nothing wrong with that." Teddy smiled.

**"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."**

"There are plenty of bad wizards and witches that came from other houses too. Don't be quick to judge a group of people on only some of their actions." Dominique commented.

**"Vol-, sorry —You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

**"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.**

"That's hard to imagine." Hugo wondered.

"I wonder what he would have been like." Loran wondered.

"Not everyone evil is born bad, some become it." Molly said.

"He might have just have been a normal student." Said Lucy.

**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.**

**"I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."**

"At least he didn't lie about his intentions." Lily grinned, shrugging as the others laughed.

**"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."**

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop). Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.**

**"Just yer wand left — A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present." Harry felt himself go red.**

**"You don't have to —"**

"I can't imagine never having had birthday presents." Hugo looked shocked.

**"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at — an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."**

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.**

**"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now — only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."**

**A magic wand… this was what Harry had been really looking forward to.**

"The best part of going to Diagon Alley for the first time," Albus smiled.

**The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.**

"Best place for them." Fred nodded.

**A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.**

"People say it was Merlin's." Roxanne grinned.

"There's a lot of speculation about it." Teddy agreed.

"It could just be an ordinary wand." Aice said softly.

"It could be Ollivanders," James smirked.

"Why would he keep his own wand on a cushion and not on his person?" Teddy raised an eyebrow.

"He could accidently misplace it with the other wands in his shop." Shrugged Fred grinning to himself.

**A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled.**

"Wow, he could feel the magic!" Loran gasped.

"Most people can." Victorie hinted.

"That's because there's so much magic in there, all the magical cores are calling out to be tried, to choose their wizard or witch." Teddy said.

"Wands are magical inductors." Molly and Lucy nodded in unison.

**The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

**"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.**

**An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.**

**"Hello," said Harry awkwardly.**

**"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."**

"I didn't know that about Grandma," Lily smiled along with her siblings, it was always nice to learn something new about people they would never meet.

**Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.**

**"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it — it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."**

"And Grandpa would of course be amazing at Transfiguration; he was an animagus in school after all." Albus said enthusiastically.

**Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.**

**"And that's where…"**

**Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.**

"_Really_ odd," Molly said into Lucy's ear.

**"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands… well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…"**

**He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid.**

**"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again… Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"**

"It's amazing how he can remember all that." Roxanne said impressed.

**"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

**"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

**"Er — yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

**"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.**

**"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

"Yeah right," Fred said smiling.

"We've seen him use it twice in this book already," James chuckled making the others laugh.

**"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now — Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

**"Er — well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

**"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head.**

"What is the point of that?" Hugo asked looking around the room for an answer.

"It's not actually measuring him; it's measuring his magic potential, the magic in his core. It's quite hard to explain, it would take hours to fully understand and even then it's still confusing." Teddy explained.

"Oh," Hugo said.

"Cool." Albus smiled.

**As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."**

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.**

"If he's measuring our cores then why doesn't he know straight away what wand has chosen us?" Louis asked Teddy.

"Because the wand choses the wizard, not the other way round." Victorie answered for her boyfriend, making her brother roll his eyes at the well know statement.

**"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave."**

**Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.**

**"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try —"**

**Harry tried — but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.**

**"No, no — here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

**Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.**

"It took ages with me; it was nearly dark by the time I got my wand." Fred grinned.

"Probably trying to bid it's time away from you." Roxanne joked.

**"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere — I wonder, now — yes, why not — unusual combination — holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."**

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers.**

"That would be it then," Teddy commented.

"I remembered mine did that too." Lily said smiling.

**He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls.**

**Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious…"**

"Huh?" James questioned.

**He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious… curious…"**

**"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"**

**Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.**

**"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother — why, its brother gave you that scar."**

Everyone gasped at that. How did they not know this?

"Well I suppose it's something Uncle Harry would like to keep to himself." Teddy said surprised.

**Harry swallowed.**

**"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember… I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter… After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things — terrible, yes, but great."**

"Most wouldn't agree." Teddy said under his breath.

**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.**

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder.**

**"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.**

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.**

"Linda told me it was like that for her as well." James smiled, blushing under the others gazes.

**"You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life — and yet — he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

**"Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last.**

**"All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander… but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry — I mean, the night my parents died."**

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile.**

**"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts — I did — still do, 'smatter of fact."**

**Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope.**

**"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September — King's Cross — it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me…. See yeh soon, Harry."**

"Wait! Hagrid didn't tell him how to get onto the platform!" Victorie said slightly panicked.

"That's not good," James mumbled worried for his father.

"Hopefully someone will be able to show him." Hugo said hopefully.

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

"That's it," Rose said handing the book over to Scorpious to read next.

* * *

><p><strong>Author Note: I finally updated and posted a chapter! Woooo! All because it's my birthday and I really love all your comments, so this is my gift to you. And I'll try to update again, I only didn't because of all these stories getting deleted, thankfully this one wasn't so, ta da!<strong>

**Thanks for the love given to this story, all your comments are much appreciated! And they totally guilt trip me into updating more often ;) **


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